Apple + Crazy = Microsoft 2.0

May 14th, 2010 by 801red

Do you remember when Microsoft was cool? I am sorry if any of you were drinking liquids at the time you read that sentence. I will not pay for any damage done to your computer. Reading this blog can be a dangerous proposition. It doesn’t change the fact when Windows first came out Microsoft was cool. Then their company exploded into the stratosphere and they became the death star. Swallowing, destroying, and ravaging all those who were stupid enough to stand in their way.

Suddenly, they weren’t so cool, they were just a big bully. A bully people began to actively run away from. People who used their products could often be overheard wishing for other choices. Eventually the government stepped in and slapped them around with a few anti-trust suits and their reputation was tarnished forever.

It pains me to say this but we may be watching Microsoft 2.0 happening in front of us right now. You see Apple became the company which took on the bully. They were the anti-Microsoft. It started with a tiny little surprising stealth attack called iPod. They became innovators. They made products which worked and functioned like they were advertised. It became a sign of cultural hipness to be caught with an Apple product.

Don’t get me wrong I still think of them as innovators. They create markets where there were none. They still mostly make products that work. My iPod is an essential part of my everyday life. The iPad succeeded far better than I ever thought it would but the cracks are there. You can see them from a mile away. I just wonder if Apple does?

I am terribly annoyed with their application store lately. Their desire to control everything has led to a system where apps get routinely rejected on whatever whim crawls up Apple’s backside. They reject porn, they reject Pulitzer Prize winning cartoons, they reject anything which looks remotely like something they are working on. They use lame excuses but what I want to know is who owns my damn phone? Me or Apple because it is starting to look more and more like Apple does. They get to tell me what I can have on it and what I can’t.

I don’t care if they don’t want to sell certain apps in their store but I am not sure how they are getting away with stopping other stores from selling me apps, and trust me they are. You have to break the operating system on the iPhone and iPad to put other apps on them. Then Apple will release an update which bricks your phone because you tampered with the system. The whole thing smacks of censorship.

You throw in the fact they have put a website out of business by suing it into oblivion for leaking some of their precious secrets or sicking the police on Gizmodo because well I don’t know why. There are so many different stories out there on that one it is going to take awhile to get to the bottom of it. You think the fight between Adobe and Apple right now doesn’t have long reaching consequences? Apple is definitely throwing their full weight behind putting flash out of business.

Their success is slowly turning them into that which they used to hate. They are losing their cool factor. Right now they don’t care because they are practically minting money. The problem is down the road. What happens when they get so big they stop innovating? What happens when their name becomes the name people throw around as the new bully on the block? They are already stepping over the line. You can feel the buzz turning against them. If Apple isn’t careful they are going to look into the mirror in a couple of years and see Microsoft staring back at them. Nothing lasts forever, just ask IBM.

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